Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to review the upper limit on tax-free childcare in the context of trends in the level of childcare costs.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) provides financial support for working parents with their childcare costs. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2 up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11 and up to £4,000 per disabled child until they’re 17. Take-up of Tax-Free Childcare has continued to increase and is on a steady upward trajectory: an estimated 428,000 families used Tax-Free Childcare for 511,000 children in November 2022, this quarter’s peak, compared to 401,000 families using Tax-Free Childcare for 478,000 children in September 2022.
Additional childcare support is available: all three- and four-year-olds can access 15 hours of free childcare per week, regardless of circumstance. Eligible working parents of three- and four-year-olds can also access an additional 15 hours of free childcare per week, also known as 30 hours free childcare. Moreover, Universal Credit (UC) claimants are able to claim up to 85% of their childcare costs.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps they have taken to operate a disability confident scheme for those seeking promotion in their Department; and how many and what proportion of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the scheme were (a) interviewed and (b) promoted in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury is a Disability Confident Leader, the highest of three levels in the Disability Confident Scheme, providing candidates who apply to the department under the scheme with a guaranteed interview if they meet the minimum criteria required for the role. This is available to all candidates, both internal and external, and is supplemented by our commitment to offering reasonable adjustments through the recruitment process.
To reach Level 3, Disability Confident Leader, an employer must run through a self-assessment of their disabled employment policies and practices, put this self-assessment up for external validation, produce a plan for encouraging and supporting other employers to become Disability Confident, and undertake to use the Voluntary Reporting framework to publicly report on how they support their disabled staff.
Of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the Disability Confident Scheme:
Data regarding how many and the proportion of those candidates who were promoted is not centrally held in the requested format and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost. This is because the question of “applying on promotion” is only asked for vacancies advertised internally or across government.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps they have taken in their Department to operate the Disability Confident employer scheme for those seeking a lateral transfer; and how many and what proportion of candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under that scheme where (a) interviewed and (b) laterally transferred in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury is a Disability Confident Leader, the highest of three levels in the Disability Confident Scheme, providing candidates who apply to the department under the scheme with a guaranteed interview if they meet the minimum criteria required for the role. This is available to all candidates, both internal and external, and is supplemented by our commitment to offering reasonable adjustments through the recruitment process.
To reach Level 3, Disability Confident Leader, an employer must run through a self-assessment of their disabled employment policies and practices, put this self-assessment up for external validation, produce a plan for encouraging and supporting other employers to become Disability Confident, and undertake to use the Voluntary Reporting framework to publicly report on how they support their disabled staff.
Of those candidates who declared themselves as having a disability and who applied under the Disability Confident Scheme:
Data regarding how many and the proportion of those candidates who moved laterally is not centrally held in the requested format and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost. This is because the question of “applying on promotion” is only asked for vacancies advertised internally or across government.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HMT has embedded procedures to ensure compliance with the public sector equality duty relating to equality assessments for new and existing policies.
The Trade Unions are consulted when new HR policies are implemented.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of HMRC’s compliance with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether monitoring data is shared with trade unions.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In line with the requirements of section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code and in order to enable HMRC to monitor the effectiveness of policies and action plans, as required, HMRC collects aggregated and anonymised data on core characteristics of its workforce in line with the requirements of section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code including additional requirements for workforce in Northern Ireland.
HMRC uses this data to monitor its workforce and produce Equality Impact Assessments that supporting the department to understand the effect of its core employment policies and decisions. This is in line with the requirements under ‘Monitoring’ in that section of the Civil Service Management Code.
Monitoring data is shared with Trade Unions in line with the statutory requirements.
HMRC Employee Relations Agreement, that was co-created with their recognised trade unions, states the following “HMRC, ARC and PCS will always aim to share information at the earliest opportunity to support effective engagement. HMRC, ARC and PCS may also need to ask for additional information to support discussions"
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There is a range of HR information which is published on GOV.UK and which is therefore publicly available.
In addition, HMT meets regularly with its recognised Trade Unions and presents and shares a range of information and data where it is appropriate and in line with privacy statements. This helps inform decision making through formal negotiation and meaningful consultation and engagement.
HMT is therefore complying with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and it always seek to work constructively with trade unions to reach fair and reasonable settlements.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer that I gave on 30th January to PQ 128661:
The Treasury collects and publishes data on protected characteristics in its annual reports on the public gov.uk website, in accordance with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 and GDPR 2018 regulations. Departmental monitoring data is made available to staff in the department as necessary – including union representatives.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has notified staff to (a) tell or (b) remind them that they can sell annual leave in the last four months.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury has communicated with staff during the period of September to November 2022 to inform them that they were able to sell their annual leave.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of employees in their Department are paid at the rate of the National Minimum Wage.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is committed to paying people a decent living wage, which is being addressed through the statutory National Living Wage. In April 2022, the Government increased the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour. This will rise to £10.42 an hour from 1 April 2023, an increase of 9.7%.
By 2024, the Government has committed that the National Living Wage will reach 66% of median UK earnings.
The Government will always award contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer.
Departments must ensure that they apply the legislative increase to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage.
The total number of civil servants in HM Treasury paid at the National Minimum Wage rate per hour was 0 (0% of all staff) and the National Living Wage rate per hour was 0 (0% of all staff) as at December 2022. All current HM Treasury employees are paid above the rate of the National Minimum Wage.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Treasury collects and publishes data on protected characteristics in its annual reports on the public gov.uk website, in accordance with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 and GDPR 2018 regulations. Departmental monitoring data is made available to staff in the department as necessary – including union representatives.